The Truth
by HarryPotter'sgirl17
Summary: No one has ever heard the real story, no one has ever really cared. Now that I'm telling it, EVERYONE will know. Yet, will they care...?
1. How We Got Here

Hello all! I have decided to try and write a Zelda fanfic. This is my first Zelda fic and my first angst. Please, if I totally kill the story, try to _gently_ tell me what I did wrong, and not scream at my face. I will be more understanding that way.

**Chapter One: **How We Got Here

I walked toward the tree by the Water Temple's symbol and leaned against its trunk, still warm in the evening sun. I could feel the steady stream of sticky, warm blood sliding down my side and didn't care, didn't try to stop it. I simply let it flow, let it gather in a puddle at my feet until my knees couldn't hold me and I slipped and landed in my own blood.

The love of my life was a thousand miles away, living a life I was no part of and not even caring that I was dying, or that the wounds I had suffered were from fighting for him.

As I watched my blood mix with the water over the edge of the bank like some Warping nightmare, my mind wandered to the first time I saw him. The first time I knew I had found the man of my dreams.

It was years ago, yet the memories came as if it had just happened yesterday.

He had pulled himself out of the Water Temple, the Chosen One, Link. He flopped down by the tree I was now lying against, that annoying little fairy buzzing around his head like a fly at a picnic. She was telling him to get up, to keep going, and watch out for enemies when all he seemed to want to do was rest, stop for even a few seconds and catch his breath.

As he pulled himself to his feet, I felt such an overwhelming rush of affection that I was left wondering if these feeling were Princess Zelda's or mine.

Now, if you haven't heard my story and are confused at this point, I wouldn't be that surprised. Only one type of story was recorded, only one version of history was told and it wasn't mine. No one ever thought to ask me if _I_ wanted to tell my story, no one ever wanted to _know_ my story. They just were happy with the version everyone else told them and the one everyone else swallowed. The only one who knows the _whole_ story was Princess Zelda, Link and I. Since neither one of them seemed to want to tell the real story, I guess it's up to me to tell it all before my life ends.

It all started in one of the worst battles in Hyrulian history, right after Ganondorf had seized the Triforce of Power and Link had gone into his Seven Year Sleep. I had gone into my very first battle, for the Shekiah train their children for battle at a very young age, and had suffered a life-threatening injury no amount of Potions or Fairies could heal. They were saying the Death Song while my heart raced and I was praying that something would put off the impending terror of my death.

Be careful what you wish for.

In the middle of the Song of Sorrow, the dim crying was suddenly cut off. I remember faintly holding on to consciousness as the crowd parted and a solitary figure entered the tent.

Princess Zelda.

You're probably wondering why my voice was so venomous when I said her name. Like I said before, you haven't heard _my_ story. Everyone believes that she's this kind, wise, sweet princess that only had Hyrule's best interests at heart. Well, after my story, you might not have the same delusion.

Princess Zelda had entered the tent and, disguised though she was, everyone immediately knew that she was royalty and heir to the throne. There was a…_presence_ about her that seemed to emit from her like a glow, and the haughty expression she gave everyone was a dead giveaway as well.

Her steps brought her to my bedside and I was left wondering why the Princess of Hyrule had come to my village, had come to my tent. What had I done that required the Royal Family's attention in this time of peril?

"I can save him."

These words brought a low murmuring from every corner of the tent. It sounded like more people had entered the tent, drawn to the Princess like flies to honey. Little did they know that her honey had a poisonous edge to it.

"I can save him," Princess Zelda repeated, kneeling by the head of the bed, "However; I will require a service from him, something that will bind him to me for a short while. I can't say that it will keep him from harm-what can these days?-but I swear that he will bring Hyrule back into the Days of Light!"

There was a collective gasp at these words, for it was common knowledge that the Princess had prophetic dreams, that she could see the future. Another weapon in her deceiving arsenal…

She had tipped her head, so that her hair fell forward and shielded us from the watching crowd. Her lips brushed my ear as she whispered, "Will you help me?"

I then experienced something that frightened me, which I had put down to blood loss and fear of my own doom. I now know that, as close to Zelda as I was, I had caught a glimpse of what my future held.

I saw myself, older, healed, _whole_, but something was wrong: A scarf hid half my face. Was I to be disfigured in some way? Then, to my growing dread, I saw myself reach up and pull off the scarf and Princess Zelda standing in my stead.

I came to inside the tent, breathing hard and wondering what had just happened. Was that to be my future? To live, but never be really alive? To share my body, not only with a complete stranger, but that stranger would be the _Princess_?

"_Will you help me_??"

The Princess's whisper held all the fear I could not express. Did she see what I had glimpsed? Did she feel what I felt in my very bones? So horrified was I of dying and ready to believe that my Princess could save me, I said the word that was both my salvation and my doom:

"_Yes_."

Zelda's eyes closed and, for the briefest of moments, I saw a strange, savage smile spread across her face before she whispered, "Thank you." And released me from her grip, but not from her web.

She strode over to where I had kept my most prized possession: My Harp of Hope. Zelda's eyes were lit with a inner light that made everyone near her step back a few paces and glance at each other with fear, almost seeing what I found out through the time I had with her. Right then, I felt another kind of fear, the one that maybe death wasn't as bad as what awaited me…

Before I could do more than groan, she had picked up my Harp and began playing an odd, low, morbid tune that made me feel numb, slow and sleepy. I could barely see anymore and the voices surrounding me sounded distant, as if I was hearing them through a long tunnel. I tried to move, to see what the Princess was doing, what she was saying, but I found that I couldn't feel my fingers, much less move them. Astounding though it may seem, I managed to feel even more scared than I was already. Go figure.

Then I felt nothing.


	2. Help Me

**Chapter Two: Help Me**

Waking up what felt like an eternity but was only a few minutes later, the first thing I realized was that everything felt different, lighter and heavier at the same time, that I was no longer in pain, and that everyone was looking at me in some sort of awe that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.

Pulling my heavy-light body up, I made to wipe the sleep from my eyes when I realized why nothing felt right; my body was not my own!

The arms were too slender and the waist too narrow, I had curves in the wrong places, basically **everything **felt wrong. I tried to jump up, but only ended up stumbling over a long, pink dress that covered my new body and almost fell if not for the help of a woman I learned was the Princess' bodyguard, Impa.

How did I know? A quiet voice in the back of my head told me that was her name, as well as a need to calm down. It was this voice that scared me most of all, even over the fact that I wasn't myself, that I wasn't in my true form.

"Are you alright, my lady?" Impa asked, her comforting voice taking off the edge of my fear before I realized exactly what she said.

_My lady..._

Looking down, I realized that she was telling the truth, I now was a woman, a small, oddly proportioned woman covered in a dress that swirled around my legs and told me something **else** was missing.

"Yes, Impa, I am fine." A cool voice answered, making me wonder were it came from a second before I felt my lips close.

The voice came from me, yet it sounded nothing like me, and I wanted to contradict what it said almost at once, but found that I was unable to. Once I had stopped trying to fight off Impa, a strange force had taken over and I was unable to do anything, except watch as my entire tribe looked at the person who had stolen and contorted my body like a savior... until a shrill voice cut through the stillness.

"What have you done?!"

The entire household turned to see who had spoken, and my heart lurched when I saw who it was; Tetra, a girl who had become my close friend ever since we saved her from Hyrule Castle a year ago. She had an basket full of herbs, Potions, even a Fairy in a jar, and she was staring at me as if I had been the one who had killed her parents.

"I have saved him." The voice that came from me, talking in a way that I never would to my best friend, replied coldly.

Then it all came back to me, the fighting, my injuries, the mourning, the Princess promising to heal me, and then the vision I saw before it felt like my body was being ripped apart as Zelda played that Dark Song...

I now was sharing Princess Zelda of the Royal Family of Hyrule's body. My jaw would've dropped at the sheer shock of the realization if I had been in control of it.

"Saved him?! Saved him?!" Tetra's sapphire eyes were filling with tears as she threw her basket at Zelda's feet, causing me to snap to the problem at hand and making the Fairy to fly crazily around the jar it was in. "**I** was going to save him! **You** just took him and used him as your own damn plaything! I'd kill you if I knew it wouldn't hurt him!!"

There was a collective gasp at this and Impa took a protective step in front of me, of **Zelda**, blocking Tetra from our view as my heart broke to hear the hate in my friend's voice and, even though it wasn't directed at me, it made me feel as if I had failed her somehow.

"I asked him if he wanted to be saved-" Zelda started, glaring at my friend as if she was a mere fly to be swatted away, before Tetra interrupted with a shout.

"To be saved! Not stuck in a body with a self serving, self interested son of a-" Tetra's face twisted as she tried to think of a suitable insult, yet she was unable to as she simply growled one last time and turned away, ready to walk out of my life forever.

"Stop!" This time, the voice that issued from my mouth was my own this time and it was so surprising, that Tetra really did stop and turn around.

There was a sudden pain, as if I had been bitten by a Skullata only more intense, spreading through my entire body that caused me to drop to my knees and my vision to darken around the edges for a few seconds before it cleared again.

"Don't leave..." It was a whimper and I was afraid that she wouldn't hear me and continue on her way.

Tetra had ran to my side, obviously hearing my dismay. She always did have good ears. She dropped down beside me before Impa could even breathe, wrapping her arms around me and rocking me gently, for only she could see, **feel**, how my body was shaking almost as bad as my voice was.

Only her and the demon that shared my heart, that whispered in my ear as I tried to deal with the newness of having another concious, another personality in my head, in my body.

_Don't let her stop you from fulfilling your destiny... You are to assist the Hero of Time save our world..._

"Sheik? Are you alright?" Tetra's voice was faint, hard to hear over the buzzing in my brain. "Sheik? Sheik!"

_You will be the greatest asset in this War, you will help and give the Hero of Time the courage to defeat the Evil King and save our Kingdom..._

My head was aching, my heart was being split in a thousand directions, and both Impa and Tetra were crying in my ear, making it even harder to think.

_You __**can not**__ be selfish, Sheik. It would mean the end of Light, we would forever dwell in Darkness, lost for all time._

"Shut up..." I covered my ears, trying to make the voice stop, but only succeeded in blocking out the other two and making **her** voice all the more clearer.

_Will you let our Kingdom fall? Let the Darkness kill everyone until our world is nothing but ash? Can you live with all that on your conscious?_

"**Shut up!!**" My voice was harsh and broken, causing both woman and the banshee in my head to quiet, almost immediately, and the sudden silence was almost worst than the constant chatter.

"Tetra," I swallowed, unable to believe that I was about to lie to my best friend and doom myself to what felt like an eternity stuck with someone who was twisted everything to her own whims. "I wanted to help the Princess... even if it meant sharing our body. I knew what would happen."

She simply stared at me as I pulled out of her embrace and went to stand by Impa, keeping my gaze on my feet and avoiding Tetra's eyes as she tried to figure out what I just said.

"W-what?"

I moved closer to Impa, wishing that she would explain how to save the Kingdom without having to push my best friend away, maybe even make her hate me forever.

"I'm going to fulfill my destiny, I'm going to save Hyrule-"

"You could have done that without having to give up your body and everything that made you you!" Tetra cried, her voice full of tears, tears that I caused, and that cut more than the accusation she spat.

"No, I couldn't," I argued, focusing on the fact that Impa's hand was on my shoulder in silent support, which was causing me to feel worse as I lied to my friend. "I wouldn't have survived the night if I hadn't accepted her help. You would be singing the Death Song right now."

"Not true!" The tears that were being held back finally fell as Tetra dropped to her knees and started pulling things out of the basket that she had thrown at Zelda's feet. "It's not true! These would've saved you, they would've saved you! Look! A Fairy from the Temple of Time..."

"Tetra..."

"...rare Herbs from the Kokiri Forest that are said to have strong healing powers..."

"Tetra," I begged, hand over my heart as a sharp pain began to stab at it, fill it up until I almost couldn't take any more. "Please, stop..."

"...as well as Potions from the Old Witch behind the Item Shop!" The items she shoved into my arms were covered with a thin layer of tears that reminded me of a morning's dew after a night of rain. Only this rain wasn't stopping, this pain wasn't going to go away.

"It doesn't matter now," I said shortly, shoving the Potion and Herbs back into her hands, disgusted that she went through all that trouble just to be shunned at the finish, to go through all that trouble only to find out that I was so scared of dying that I didn't wait for her, didn't have faith in my friend. "I have chosen my fate, my destiny. You are not in it."

There was a shattering of glass that echoed in the hallow cavity of my chest were my heart used to reside as my words hit the mark I was aiming for, as I finally said the words that I knew would push her away and keep her out of the Princess' sights. I couldn't look up to see how badly I hurt her; I knew it would break my resolve and I would end up throwing myself in Tetra's arms and beg her to forgive me, to help me defy my destiny, turn the clock back and alter my fate, whither it was prolonged suffering or death.

I wish now, on the edge of death again and seeing what the future was, that I had, that I let the Darkness take me, for the Light was far too harsh and unforgiving, too glaring and intrusive.

Too unloving.

There was a silence after I spoke, a deep silence so still that it didn't even seem to be punctured by breathing as I watched the Fairy that had been a token of desperation and friendship in his cage.

When the jar had dropped, it had shattered into a thousand pieces and it looked as if the Fairy was going to be killed; but, instead of the freedom that it deserved or the death that was almost inevitable, it got trapped under the lid of the broken jar and was forced to beat it's wings to avoid being cut, all the while beating against the glass in a futile, desperate bid for freedom.

Ironic to the core.

Finally, the silence was broken, and I found that I still had a heart. For every word that she spoke cut deeper into my chest, causing one of the deepest wounds that never bled, but still scarred.

Tetra took a deep, steadying breath and the still monotone of her voice hurt a thousand times worse than if she had screamed, ranted, raved, or simply slapped me across the face.

"I'm not in it? Fine. Go, then, Sheik. Go and face your destiny, save the world or whatever poison the Princess used to warp your mind and turn you against your friends, family and everyone who ever loved you. Find the one who will save us, or be him yourself, but don't look for me when you get back. I'm not in your destiny, why bother with me?"

I'm sure that she wanted to say more, but her tears were threatening again and she stopped before they interrupted her speech, which I was grateful for, for if she continued, I'm sure that I would've been the one that broke down.

Leaning down, I released the Fairy from his prison, watching as it flew around the tent a few times before flying out of the flap that served as a door, freer than I would ever be, even now that I've escaped from Zelda's clutches.

Straightening, it was Tetra who wouldn't meet my eyes this time as I softly replied, "You may not be in my destiny, but you are one of the most important people I know. Maybe **the** most important. The main reason I'm doing this is because I need to make sure you are bathed in Light instead of Shadow. Please forgive me."

Following the Fairy's exit, I listened to the howls of pain and sadness that echoed with the rivers flowing, uncaring and unchecked, down my cheeks.

_A/N: I know the significance of Tetra's name. This will come into play later in the story. Please bear with me._


	3. Awakening

**Chapter Three: Awakening**

The next few years of my life are rather blurred, a result of blood loss and hazy memories. They mostly were years of honing my skills and learning to live with a female in my body. As a young child, even the simplest things were problems when a girl was commenting on my mistakes.

A case in point was after a hard day of travel and tutelage under Impa, I realized that my body needed release, so I went over to some bushes, undid my belt, and prepared to relieve myself.

_What are you doing? _The voice caused me to jump, tie up my belt before I landed, and spin around to look for whoever had spoken. I was on the verge of looking behind trees and bushes before the voice spoke again.

_What are you doing, Sheik?_ The voice repeated, jogging my memory._ It's just me. _The voice was soft with a insist edge to it that immediately told me who she was: Princess Zelda.

Realizing that it was the Princess allowed my heart rate to slowly start to return to normal, but also allowed me to realize another problem almost immediately that sped it back up again.

"You can see what I'm doing?!" The thought that she had almost seen what I had been about to do caused me to tighten my belt even more securely around my waist, making my gut pinch in protest. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

_You never asked, _Her voice had a royal air to it that made me want to spit as I received another pang that told me that my need for relief was getting urgent. _What are you doing way over here when our camp is on the other side of this clearing? You should stay near Impa, you are not strong enough to-_

_"_I need to relieve myself, Princess," I interrupted, an urgent need to finish this conversation and get on with my business was making itself quite plain, "I don't want you to watch so ... could you possibly... close your eyes or something?"

A laugh could be heard echoing through my head and made me blush crimson from shame before it turned to anger that I was being invaded on my privacy and being made fun of for it. "How would you like it if_ I _watched _you_?"

This effectively stopped the laughter and blissful silence rang in my head for a few moments before I began to worry about what the Princess was thinking, "Your Majesty? What is wrong now?"

_Nothing,_ she snapped, giving me a momentarily sense of satisfaction that I had irked the Princess. _My eyes are closed, please get on with your business so that we can continue the training with Impa._

Sure enough, my eyesight dimmed, almost as if my eyes were half closed, or if I had something in them. Satisfied that she wasn't looking and I would avoid further embarrassment, I went about my business, much to my bowels relief.

I had barely done up my belt when my vision cleared, telling me that the Princess was paying attention once more and that she had a very short patience. _Are you finish yet? I didn't think it would take this long..._

"Yes, Your Majesty," I remarked dryly, making my way over to Impa, who was watching me with a puzzled expression. It took me a minute to realize the reason for her befuddlement; I was apparently 'talking' to 'myself' and she didn't know that I could 'talk' to the Princess.

"Are you alright, Lord Sheik?" Impa's voice was concerned, weather for me or the Princess, I wasn't sure. It was one of the most disconcerting feelings I ever had, not being sure weather the person was worried about me or the Princess in my brain and I hated the feeling.

Another reason I was irked was the fact that she kept calling me 'Lord' even though I was years younger than her and I **knew** that this was because of Princess Zelda inhabiting the same body as me; if I had just been myself, I would be surprised if she even bothered to remember my name.

"I'm fine," I answered sourly, contradicting my response by slicing open one of the practice dummies with my sword and kicking the remains across the clearing. It was a pity that I couldn't take my anger out on the person who caused it, instead of stick figures. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Impa, wisely, decided that it would be better not to answer and simply set up a new dummy before setting up a new exercise that had me fighting Impa at the finish, effectively taking up all my concentration.

Fighting and sweating, I tried to pay attention to the strikes and parries that Impa was throwing at me while also trying to ignore all the 'help' the Princess was shouting at me. Momentarily distracted by one ridiculous maneuver, Impa got inside my defenses and sliced open my arm.

"By Din's Flame, will you shut up, you annoying brat!" I cried, dropping my sword and grabbing my arm, trying to stop the flow of blood. I had been more distracted than I thought, for the wound was deeper than usual and I knew I need to use more than a simple bandage.

"I have yet to say anything, Lord Sheik," Impa replied, her voice indignant and hurt by my apparent disrespectful outburst. She cleaned and sheathed her sword, all the while staring at me disdainfully, making my bad mood drop even further.

"Not you," I snapped, pulling out a Red Potion and drowning it in one swallow while trying not to grimace at the sour taste, "the screaming banshee in my head, constantly trying to tell me how to fight, despite the fact that I've been in more battles than she has jewels! Despite the fact that I doubt that she's even been in a battle in her whole spoiled, sheltered life!"

The look on Impa face was a mixture of shock and disapproval, which made her look absolutely ridiculous, but I was far from laughing. I was breathing heavily, ashamed that I had yelled at Impa, yet satisfied that I had finally let the frustration I had felt at the fact that the Princess was trying to tell me how to do one of the things I did best.

_I was simply trying to help-_

"I do not need, nor **want**, your help, _Princess_." I tried to put as much sarcasm and disrespect as I could into her title as I could, frustrated and tired and just at the end of my rope on how I was going to survive the coming years with the Princess as my second personality. "So stop trying to give me unwanted advice, or I swear to Farore, I will end both of our existences!"

Silence, an all-encompassing, blissful silence. Impa was regarding me with a calculating, pensive expression and I hadn't a clue in the Shadow Realm what the Princess was doing or thinking.

It was Impa who broke the heavenly quiet with her soft voice. "I think we need to work on a neglected part of your training, Lord Sheik. Please come this way... and leave your sword outside."

So saying, she made her way to the tent we had set up earlier that day without a backward glance, leaving me absolutely confused as to what I had skipped in our training, what Zelda's nagging had made me missed.

After standing in stunned silence for a little while longer, I dashed after Impa and the missed lesson, dropping my unneeded sword at the entrance of our tent, hoping she would teach me some kind of magic or skill that would make it easier to kill our enemies or to heal quicker, so that I could pay closer attention to our battles.

You can imagine my surprise when I saw that Impa was sitting in the tent, crossed legged and unarmed, motioning for me to sit beside her before closing her eyes and exhaling slowly, baffling me even farther.

_Best do as she implies, Sheik. _The Princess had finally found her tongue; I guess my silence jarred it loose, much to my disappointment. _She knows many things and I don't see any other-_

"Quiet, _Princess_," I snapped, dropping beside Impa with such force that my backside was sore for a few moments afterward as I squeezed my eyes shut. "I have practice and training to work with instead of listening to a royal whine."

Much to my growing shock, Her Royal Snottiness grew silent and allowed me to concentrate, hard as that was with all the questions going through my head instead of her incessant chatter.

I had sat there for almost half hour, the Princess gaining her voice after the first five minutes, before I could take no more of the constant bickering and finally asked, "What exactly are we doing, Impa?"

"We are calming your mind, Lord Sheik, making it a steady stream instead of a churning river," Impa's response was slow and steady with her confusing remark, not bothered with the problem of having a spoiled, whiny, eleven-year-old in **her** head. "We need to make sure you can stay calm in the midst of a battle..."

"Find me a mental gag and I'll be just fine," I retorted, causing The Crown Prissiness to immediately start shrieking in my brain and what looked like the ghost of a smile to quirk Impa's lips.

"Calm your soul and your mind will follow," was the cryptic response that came when I asked again what we were doing. I always hated it when she did that, now I miss her sage advice.

Sighing, I closed my eyes again and tried to 'calm my mind', hoping that this would give me a way to throttle, maim, or otherwise permanently silence the reason I had such a throbbing headache.

After I had finally made it to to a meditative state, I opened my mind to the memories that I had stored for times when I had a moment to myself. The War had made those moments far and few between.

My mother teaching me the various Herbs that could be made into Potions of increasing power, not knowing how many times I had put her teaching to use. Then there was my father giving me my first sword, albeit a short wooden one, and teaching me the basics that had saved my life until the day I had gotten careless...

Then there were the ones that caused as much pain as happiness; the day I met Tetra, when we became friends after many months of her silence, me teaching her the various Potions that my mother had taught me, the many days that, while not peaceful, were at least happy at times.

_Your parents look like very nice, brave people and you seem to love them very much, but I didn't see them in the tent with you. What ever happened to them? Where were they?_

It didn't surprise me that she made no reference to Tetra or my memories of her; that would've started a fight as easily as a drawn sword, and as eager as I was to get rid of the Princess, I didn't really want to kill myself to do it.

_**Ganondorf killed them during the first days of the War, one of the first battles that happened in fact; back when we thought there was a chance that it wouldn't become a slaughter.**_

___I'm very sorry, Sheik. I know how you feel-_

_**No, you don't! **_My fists clenched, nails being dug into my palms so tightly I probably would find little half moon imprints in them later. Y_**ou have **__**no**__** idea what it is like to watch the people you **__**love**__** die in front of your eyes trying to defend **__**you**__** in a war that was lost in the beginning, to see your home being **__**set**____**aflame**__** in the crossfire of a battlefield... To lose the **__**one**____**person**__** in the whole Kingdom that made the insanity bearable just because of 'destiny'...**_

__"Lord Sheik?" Impa's voice cut through my mental tirade and anger, causing me to open my eyes and looked in her direction. Her eyes had once more filled with concern as she asked, "Are you certain you are alright?'

At my puzzled expression, she nodded at my hands, which I found had started bleeding from the tightness of my grip. I slowly opened them, breathing slowly and deeply as I tried to think of a possible excuse to give Impa, who sat waiting for my response.

"You seem to be troubled by something that you do not wish to share," Impa stated softly, rubbing a Potion into my cuts, making them disappear in a matter of minutes. If only everything was that easy... "It might be easier to bear if you let me help; the least I can do is listen, child."

I felt tears build at the back of my throat and, still being a child, I threw myself into Impa's arms and wept, wept like I never had since the day I lost the ones that brought me into this world. Like I never have since, for tears are useless for me now, here at the end.

I shocked her at first, of this I am certain, but after a few moments she returned the embrace, whispering soft words, kind words, into my hair that made the tears flow even more freely.

"I sometimes forget how young you are, Lord Sheik," Impa admitted, stroking my hair, something that only my mother had done. "You have shouldered so much burden, endured so much pain, it is hard to believe you are still a boy."

My tears had exhausted me, and her ministrations had lulled me into a sense of comfort and peace, so I said nothing and simply lay there, eyes dropping further each minute that her soft voice continued.

"It will be better now, my child. I will remember your years, but I also must stress on your training; we have a long road ahead, but I know you will be the man we need and are destined to become at the end of it."

Those words pulled me out of my drowsy state just long enough to ask her quietly, "Why is it me? Why was I chosen to do this? There must be more worthy people, stronger, faster, smarter..."

Impa pulled me closer, almost as if I was her own child, and whispered, "I believe it is your heart, Lord Sheik. This heart feels every pain as if it were it's own and that drives it to stop those that cause the pain. Fate has found you, young Master, and you will help drive away the deepest Darkness there is."

The last words I heard as I drifted off were the Princess's, and they actually made me feel better instead of upsetting me this time. They were simple words, but coming from her, they were an actual heartfelt confession.

_I believe this too, Sheik. You are a great Hyrulian and are far braver than I ever could be._

"Thank you." I am still not sure who I was thanking before sleep finally claimed me, but I heard both answer before I dropped into the darkness.


	4. Seven Years Later

**Chapter Four: Seven Years Later…**

Several years passed swiftly after that moment of my childhood and it was the only time I was ever on good terms with the Princess; after her little admission of my worthiness, she pushed me harder than Impa did some days, making it almost easy to follow Impa's tutelage on creating a separate place for myself within "our" mind.

That was what Impa had been trying to teach me all those years ago; a way to separate myself from distraction and noise during battle, so that a misstep would not cause me to become injured, thus endangering the Princess' life. For, despite the fact that the Hero of Time was suppose to be our "savior" and bring about a thousand years of peace, I was not going to sit idly by and let the innocent people of Hyrule suffer until he decided to arrive.

While on these little raids, I found myself drawn toward my village every so often, but I never went to check in on my friend. I knew if I took one look at Terra's face, despite what feelings or grudge she might hold toward me, my "destiny" as a mentor to the Hero of Time would fade into nothing. Impa, however, held no such pains and constantly ventured into the villages for supplies and even killed a monster terrorizing Kakoriko Village once, the only time I ever entered a village willingly.

Oftentimes, Impa would comment on how a certain "village girl" was doing, which I usually grunted at and stored the news deep in my heart, hoping that she knew how much I missed her, how I **still** miss her...

I usually kept my own attacks around the countryside to a bare minimum because I did not want to make the mistake of having people believe that **I **was the Hero of Time. It wasn't that I wouldn't have been honored to be thought of as a legendary Hero; it was that I didn't want to steal the title to one who rightfully deserved it.

So, my attacks were random-and some times ill organized, but I made sure my raids and full-out battles had a lasting, permanent effect on "our" legion of enemies.

I had become so adapt at the power of my mental control, as well as my physical, that "we" could have my form, but the Princess would be in control, or she would have her form, but I would know what was being said and even influence it. Despite the fact that I believed the Princess was a spoiled brat, and still believe it, she **did** have a certain control over some of the Goddess' magic and switching between our forms defeated more of our foes than one of us fighting on our own.

The Princess had originally balked at me controlling "her" body, which was ironic, considering how easily she had taken over mine. Needless to say, learning control in her form had taken a considerable amount of time to master.

It was a shame that I neglected that part of my training after everything, believing the cries of 'peace everlasting' that had been shouted through the streets by joyful, delusional Hyrulians…

But I keep getting ahead of myself, jumping to the end of the story before I even began to explain the start. It was a habit that I had since childhood; I guess I'll never have the chance to grow out of it.

As I was saying, I had successfully mastered creating a kind of "space" in my mind, void of any of the Princess' chatter and annoying bickering. I was in the midst of a particularly difficult training session with Impa when Zelda somehow managed to break through my mental stronghold…

* * *

I was brought painfully back to the present by the feel of teeth grazing my foot as some beast tried to tear the protective layer of my clothing off to get to the tender flesh underneath, surprising me with the fact that I could feel anything past the throbbing pain in my side.

"Hey!" I cried out blearily; not an impressive sound, I know, but I was hoping to startle whatever creature that had decided to use me as its next meal. I had been guide and friend to the Hero of Time; I knew I was dying anyway, but Din be damned if I was going to end up as some unnamed beast's dinner!

The beast gave up chewing on my foot with a growl to stare at me with these piercing blue eyes and to show me what sort of animal had decided I would make a good snack…

It was a wolf; a sleek, silver wolf that was dripping wet from swimming in Hyrule Lake and it stared at me with an all too familiar look that had my eyes watering in nostalgic remembrance as I stretched out one bloody hand to make sure what was in front of me wasn't some kind of wishful ghost.

"Link?" I'm not sure what possessed me to say his name, but the wolf had the same deep gaze as the Hero of Time and it struck at my heart to see that familiar gaze, even on an animal.

For a few seconds, it seemed as if the wolf understood me; it looked at me for a few minutes more, head tilted slightly to the left, as if that would give him a better perspective of the strange human that greeted him like a long lost friend instead of jumping up and running away, screaming his head off in fear.

"That's it," I muttered, lurching into a sitting position. I was desperate keep the animal there, desperate to keep any reminder of Link near me, "No need to be afraid, no need to run off…"

Unfortunately, the wolf didn't listen to me and ran at my sudden movement, jumping into the lake and leaving me once more alone, yet more feeling more abandoned than ever from the shock of seeing a pair of familiar cerulean eyes.

It might seem odd to anyone listening to my ramblings that I was so entranced by a pair of blue orbs, but Link was not a very vocal person, and I couldn't recall a single time he spoke or even shouted in anger or fear.

And yet… and yet…

He was able to express so much with his gaze and body expression, telling his moods with a simple furrow of the brow, a twitch of the shoulder. Link had this uncanny ability to talk without a single word leaving his lips, or his hands making a single sign. He didn't **need** to speak to tell you how he felt, he communicated just fine with his body and movements.

Something I learned when Link finally returned to Hyrule from his long slumber in the Sacred Realm, to fulfill the prophecy, end Ganondorf's reign of terror and save us all…

* * *

_He has awakened._

The sudden, unexpected utterance from the Princess almost made me falter mid-swing and I had to do some fancy footwork before I managed to disarm Impa, which had not become any easier despite learning to master my blade.

"Who has awakened, Zelda?" I asked, holding up a hand to Impa when she went to question why I had stopped training. When she realized I was "talking" to the Princess, she nodded and stood as still as a statue, eyes alert for any danger.

I could feel the Princess' irritation at being addressed so informally, but she decided not to comment on it as she answered my question. _The Hero of Time, Sheik. We must be there to greet him!_

"Lord Sheik?" Impa questioned, probably alerted to my mounting alarm by the way my eyes grew, "What is wrong, my Lord? Is there a problem with the Princess?"

"The Hero…" I stammered, caught off-guard by the revelation that, after seven years of waiting, our one hope had finally awakened and **I** was suppose to be the one that guided him to fulfill a destiny that thousand of lives depended on. "The Hero of Time has awakened… The time we have been waiting for has come…"

"Then you must go to him, Lord Sheik" Impa stated simply, walking over to the small tent that served as our temporary home and beginning to pack a small saddlebag with her belongings, few that they were. It was obvious by the way she walked that Impa thought this was a simple thing to be troubled over.

"Yeah, yeah… I must go…" It was after I repeated that a few times that her words finally registered in my frazzled brain, "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'you must go to him', Impa? What about **you**?? Where are **you** going to be???"

"Lord Sheik," Impa continued, voice calm despite the fact that my carefully constructed world was now falling apart around my ears, "You are destined to be mentor to the Hero of Time. The prophecy does not add your own mentor must also be present. It is time for you to continue your quest… on your own."

She ended her little speech with her hand on my head, a sad smile lurking at the corners of her lips, but my mind barely registered any of this. It was busy fighting off a rising fear that I might somehow disappoint the Hero of Time and the fact that the Princess was screeching in my ear that we needed to hurry, hurry before we missed meeting the Chosen One, wasn't helping matters.

It said something about my frayed mental state that I was able to hear her at all and not almost immediately block her out as I used to, much to Zelda's annoyance.

"Impa," I whispered, hurt that the woman I loved as a surrogate mother was leaving me, hurt that the one **peaceful** constant I had for the entire time that Ganondorf was in power was now going to leave me as well. "What do I do?"

"Be the man that you have been training to become, use that training to guide the Hero in his destiny and help us all…" Surprising both Zelda and myself, she wrapped "us" in a tight bear hug that startled me with the emotion behind it, whispering in my ear words meant for me alone.

"Be the man I would be proud to call my son."

Then she was gone, as if she had disappeared into the very wind like a puff of campfire smoke. A trick she had taught me as well, a long time ago, but I was too stunned at what she had just told me to realize the familiar exit at the moment.

Impa thought of me as a son? Looking back now, I could see that she had grown to love me as anyone could at the time; but right then, with my destiny rearing its ugly head in my face, the fact that Impa held any kind of affection for me besides obligation because of the Princess utterly and completely floored me.

After a few minutes of me sitting there in shocked silence, Zelda began her mantra of urgency once again, reminding me that I had other problems to deal with before I could dwell on the fact that my mentor just told me I was as good as her son.

Making my way over to where we had lived the past couple of weeks, I put away everything I needed in an old saddlebag and loaded it all up on the horse we had "retrieved" from Lon Lon Ranch about three years ago. I had gone to ask Impa to help me tie a rope here and there before I realized that, once again, I was alone.

_Not completely alone…_ Zelda was quick to inform me, almost royally, as I finally mounted my horse and made my way to Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Time.

Somehow, the statement didn't provide that much comfort.

* * *

It had taken a few hours to finally make it to Hyrule Field and to see the remnants of Hyrule Castle in the distance. A sudden thought stuck me and I decided to break the silence that had reined through the entire ride.

"Zelda, what if we're too late to meet the Hero?" It also seemed strange to me that Link already had a magnanimous title before he had done anything. Did he feel the same weight of responsibility that I did? Was the Hero of Time also worried that he might somehow mess up and dash everyone's hopes?

_It's __**Princess**__ Zelda. _Her reprimand didn't have as much heat as usual and I could tell that she was just as distracted and nervous as I was. _Don't worry; he is speaking to Rauru, the Sage of Light. He will explain to the Hero what has happened during his slumber._

I shook my head, wondering at how that conversation would go: **Hello, Link. You are the legendary Hero of Time; you've been asleep for seven years since we thought a little kid would have no chance of saving Hyrule. Now Ganondorf is supreme ruler of Hyrule, everyone is living in a constant state of despair and we want you to fix things, good luck and try not to die!**

Zelda picked up on the not-so-hopeful tone of my thoughts. _The Sage of Light is far more tactful than that, Sheik, he will explain to the Hero of Time his duty and his destiny in a way that will make him understand the honor of his role._

"Why don't you call Link by his name, Zelda?" I asked, not wanting to get into a debate on how 'tactful' I believed Sages to be (or at least, one in particular).

_It's __**Princess **__Zelda, Sheik, and The Hero of Time is a great champion, deserving to be treated as such by __**everyone**__, _Zelda sniffed, before once more falling silent despite my attempts to get her to talk more about Link.

It wasn't until later that I learned that **she** had been the one that had sent Link on his quest in the first place, due to a mistaken assumption that she and Link could protect the Triforce far better than an entire army. A mistake that Zelda still holds guilt for…

Yet, at the time, I simply believed she only knew Link's name by her dreams and accepted the silence as a blessing; I had a while yet to think of what to say to the Hero of Time when I met him, not to mention wonder what this great warrior even **looked** like.

Considering the fact that he was suppose to be able to defeat Ganondorf single-handedly, and I happened to know that Ganondprf had magic as well as strength, the Link of my imaginings was a bulky, giant of a warrior that had somehow had years of swordsmanship and training magically implanted into his mind as he slept. It seemed the only logical way he had any chance of beating the Evil Gerudo King and bringing peace to the land.

I was about to find out if the man lived up to the expectation; for my horse's hooves hit the end of the damaged moat that lead to all that was left of Hyrule Marketplace and, beyond that, the Temple of Time.

Swallowing down the memories, some of them bittersweet, that the sight of the ruins brought me, I made my way through the Marketplace square. It had become habit to sneak by the cursed Hyrulians, whose scream could quite literally freeze you in place, without giving them a second glance; yet, for some reason, I found myself staring at the ReDeads as I made my silent way around them.

It struck me as supremely cruel that in his lust for power and dominion, Ganondorf saw fit to strike down the very people who would worship him, whether out of fear or blind loyalty. It was just another show of how the man became a monster, how the thirst for power corrupted the need for it.

Pulling my gaze away, I snuck past the Gossiping Stones-an odd name for a stone with a single, mythical eye in the middle of it-and slowly, hesitantly, walked up the steps to the Temple of Time.

**Here goes everything…** Swallowing hard one last time, I pushed past the fear that was threatening to swallow me, pulled the door open and went to meet the Hero of Time…

Link.


End file.
